Summary
The third episode of Sugar raises several very odd potential theories, expanding the show’s scope significantly.
After Episode 3, Sugar is almost a different show from the stylish neo-noir it began as in its two-part premiere. The mystery is unfurling at a surprising clip, dispensing much more information about Olivia’s disappearance and Clifford’s death much sooner than we expected to get it, but also hinting at a much more grandiose backstory for the titular PI.
What exactly is going on remains mysterious for now, as well it should, but it’s clear there’s much more to Sugar and his namesake show than meets the eye.
Olivia Killed Clifford
The revelations start to roll out early. Melanie is hoodwinked into an ambush by Stallings, who lures her to Carmen’s sister Teresa’s place and then threatens to harm Teresa if Melanie doesn’t reveal what she knows about where Olivia is. Luckily, Sugar comes to the rescue, tipped off by Charlie.
But the near miss compels Melanie to open up a bit, and she reveals to Sugar that she and Melanie were working with an organization to help women like Teresa and Carmen who were involved in abusive relationships.
Olivia and Carmen had become close, and so when Olivia found out that Clifford had killed her, she killed him in kind. As suspected, she asked Melanie to help her cover up the crime to protect her family’s public standing, which is why Clifford’s body was hidden in the trunk of her car and not laying in a morgue somewhere.
Sugar Might Be A Spy
That’s one mystery solved, then. However, Olivia’s present whereabouts remain mysterious, which is perhaps just as well, since it gives both Sugar and the audience something to keep clinging to. Well, this and whoever might have moved Clifford’s body, which we saw at the end of Episode 2.
With these details out of the way, Sugar Episode 3 has room to hone in on its titular character a little more. In a weird development, he’s invited to a party full of polyglots – that sounds like something from Harry Potter, I know, but it just means people who speak multiple languages – by Ruby, where everyone is an obvious eccentric who seems to know Sugar by reputation if nothing else.
Ruby is clearly a superior at this shindig, and everyone present, including Sugar, seems to belong to the same organization. What we’re to assume, especially when considered in light of the information Kenny digs up for David on Sugar’s background, that they’re spies. But it might be weirder than that.
There’s Much More To Sugar Than Meets the Eye
Call me crazy, since an international ring of multilingual espionage agents would be weird enough, but if we use Sugar himself as a case study they could be anything from aliens to high-functioning autistics. Sugar’s basic human interactions feel like a slot machine trying to ring cherries; like he’s someone who has watched people from afar and is having a go at emulating them.
Other oddities include an almost pathological desire to help people even if it’s not in his own best interests, a real reluctance to harm anyone almost as if he can’t help it once he gets going, a mysterious but seemingly total inability to get drunk to matter how much alcohol he consumes, and that weird jittery-hand illness. “Former spy” doesn’t quite cut it when you factor all that in.
Ruby Is Up To No Good
Ruby also seems faintly repulsed by Sugar having developed a personal connection to the case, revealed in his journal. Although to be fair, that could just be that he’s getting too close to the truth. At the end of the episode, she tells her presumed superior, Vickers, that “Sugar is onto Stallings. It’s only a matter of time before he discovers the rest.”
So, Sugar’s closest ally is really his enemy, and there could be a multinational spy ring at play, and Olivia’s disappearance could be the least of anyone’s concerns.
Goodness!
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